A terrible and fatal accidental poisoning by firedamp emissions occurred yesterday on October 28th, 2013 with at least 6 deceased and numerous seriously and moderate injured workers at the mining location of Pozo Emilio del Valle in the northwest Spanish city of Pola de Gordón owned by the company Hullera Vasco Leonesa.
The Industry Federation of USO (FI-USO) Unión Sindical Obrera and its mining sector offer the deepest condolences to the mining family and above all to the families of the six deceased workers out of which three were affiliated to our union.
It seems that the accident occurred when 11 workers were at a working depth of 694 meters in the gallery 740 of the coal mine. The miners were surprised by the explosion of firedamp, a combustible gas that is formed in mines by decomposition of coal or other carbonaceous matter, and that consists chiefly out of methane. It has been the worst mining accident in Spain for the last 18 years.
The Industry federation of USO and its mining sector look forward to the urgent investigation of this accident to determine with certainty its actual causes, to draw precise conclusions and take the necessary steps and adopt the required measures to avoid the occurrence of such a tragedy in the future.
A delegation of USO at the highest level, headed by the Secretary General of USO Union Julio Salazar and the Secretary General of Industry Federation FI-USO Pedro Ayllón will be offering their most sincere condolences to the families of those that lost loved ones in the fatal accident at the funerals, tomorrow, on the 30th of October in the sports center of the city Santa Lucia de Gordón.
